He he... that reminded me of King.

S.O.'s best friend's fiance was over one night. She grew up in Quebec her whole life. French is her native language. She started speaking to King in French and he listened to everything she told him to do. As far as signaling... Almost the whole time she was staring him in the eyes and holding his head in her hands. Just speaking in conversation. She was amazed. "You taught him in French?!" No, I don't even speak any French. So she took him over to the side of the yard and stared straight ahead at a bush and said it all again. He listened to every single thing she told him to do.

I had joked for a year previously that it was a possibility King's father was French Canadian despite what we had been told. That night i figure that had confirmed it. LOL

Try reading "Kinship With All Life" by J.Allen Boone. It's a short book and an easy read.

~ ~

Another possibility is the home that he came from trained the pups with German commands. ???

Quote Originally Posted by Travis_gsd27
Ok, so my Trav boy has never heard a word of German in his life. (It's a shame since its his native tongue )

But one day I went up to him and said "Platz" (Meaning 'down') and what does he do? He lays down!

So then I'm like...Hmm what else? I tell him "Sitz". He listens. But thats an easy one, it sounds just like Sit. lol

So I show my dad, I put Travis into a sit and tell him "Platz" and he does it! My dad thought maybe that Travis just knew what came after sit and assumed that I would tell him to lay down next. So I decided to test that. I had him in a stand and told him "Platz". And what does he do? He lays down! He doesn't even sit first, he goes straight from a stand to a down. At this point my parents and I are amazed. Our faces probably looked something like this --->

So then my dad tries it "Travis, Platz" and Travis listens. My mom goes into the other room with Travis, he's in a stand and she gives him the command "Travis, Platz" and he does it!

So I get online and tell my friend about it. (She teaches her GSD in German) and she thinks maybe we are accidentally signaling to Travis? So I have my hands behind my back and just stand there and casually say "Platz" and he does it!

I promise that prior to that incident I never uttered a word of German to him. I do occassionally give him commands in Spanish but never in German. Typing up this post, I turned around and gave him the "Platz" command and he happily complied. LoL.

So yeah....He's no genius, so how did he know what "Platz" meant? Was I unknowingly using some kind of body language that told him what to do? My hands were behing my back, I was standing up straight and stiff, not moving, I wasn't even making eye contact with him. How could he have picked up a signal from me?

Explain?